What do we think this chap was doing during the night?

[HoHoHo]

Once I'm awake I'm awake (years of running a business I guess) and of course like any other plane sado I tend to have a glance at flight radar during the night to see what's around.

So at 4am when I looked, this chap had been flying around nearby clearly in an organised fashion for some time.....



Your guess is as good as mine, perhaps he was looking for squirrels

[Ilovejapcrap]

I know nothing about planes is this like going for a drive or do you have to have a route to go up ?

[wijit]

I know even less than the above, but could it be one of those "Google" things, or the like?

[51mes]

Well looking who own the plane...

http://www.rvl-group.com/about-us/

nice regular pattern - some kind of survey but in the dark so radar, IR or something - looking for pot farms, the mind boggles...

S.

[Some Gump]

called reconnisance ventures?
flying in lines?

My guess is aerial photographer.

[mph1977]

Some Gump said:

called reconnisance ventures?
flying in lines?

My guess is aerial photographer.

but at 4 am in March ?

[ecsrobin]

The aircraft has a LIDAR sensor fitted which is used for terrain mapping and elevation data.

The end product would be something like this:



My guess is because it's near gatwicks airspace this was the only time suitable to do the work.

[mph1977]

ecsrobin said:

The aircraft has a LIDAR sensor fitted which is used for terrain mapping and elevation data.

The end product would be something like this:



My guess is because it's near gatwicks airspace this was the only time suitable to do the work.

fair enough

[Boatbuoy]

I'm going to guess at Laser Mapping. The Aircraft in question (according to the image on their website) is liveried in Ordinance Survey colours. My theory is that laser scanning doesn't require daylight, and they are taking advantage of quiet airspace in and around London at that time.

[Ilovejapcrap]

Or he was lost

[Lotus 50]

Probably doing LiDAR survey work for the Environment Agency (they do lots of this to develop digital terrain maps for use in flood risk management work).

[Simpo Two]

Russian Bear dropping Window as decoy for invasion...

[fomb]

Lotus 50 said:

Probably doing LiDAR survey work for the Environment Agency (they do lots of this to develop digital terrain maps for use in flood risk management work).

http://www.planepictures.net/netshow.php?id=699491

[Crumpet]

Yep, aerial survey. I used to have hours of fun doing it! As mentioned above it will probably be Lidar, although at one point the company I worked for had a thermal imaging camera, so that could be an option.

It was like mowing a lawn in the sky!

[Prawo Jazdy]

Unsurprisingly, they use the call sign "Endurance" .

[RobbyJ]

It was probably a less eventful night out for that aircraft than this one was:

http://www.aaib.gov.uk/cms_resources.cfm?file=/Ces...

[mrloudly]

Had a brilliant trip in a Piper Chieftain once G-NERC (National Environmental Research Council) ((Reg now moved)) We did similar taken hundreds of pic's off of the Gower Peninsula. The photography bit was boring, the flight home at
a very low altitude through the Malvern hills wasn't

[Chucklehead]

Building a case for a second runway ;-)

[LHRFlightman]

Aerial survey flight. I've seen lots of these in my system at work.

[Pot Bellied Fool]

Crumpet said:

Yep, aerial survey. I used to have hours of fun doing it! As mentioned above it will probably be Lidar, although at one point the company I worked for had a thermal imaging camera, so that could be an option.

It was like mowing a lawn in the sky!

Who were you with Crumpet? I used to specialise in aerial thermographic surveys (Using the venerable but lovely IR189400) and had many fun hours in the back of Queenairs, Aztecs & Aerocommanders.

As others have said, that's a tpical aerial survey racetrack pattern. We used to fly at 2000ft agl, tracks seperated by 300M iirc. I've even been mistaken for a UFO!

Done at night time for ease of access and in the case of thermal, to avoid solar gain.

Loved my time doing that sort of work but sold my kit off to a German outfit as I was being split in too many directions.